Page 55 of Once Upon a Star

“You do,” he said with a sigh. I could tell by his look that he understood all I was saying with those three words.

“Did you really doubt that?” I asked.

“Yes. No. I just love hearing you say it.” He laughed nervously.

I moved closer to him and wrapped my arms around him. “Me? You were the one who took forever to say it again.”

Bash held me close and laughed as he said, “Not forever, just ten or fifteen years.”

“It was worth the wait. You are worth the wait,” I said and leaned back to look at him.

“You are my everything.”

I didn’t think my heart could swell anymore with love for the man but it did with that statement. “You are my everything,” I replied.

Bash beamed at me and then let out a long sigh. “Let’s hope you still feel that way when I tell you what I’ve done.”

“Okay,” I said slowly and stepped away from him. I wanted to hear everything. I didn’t want to be distracted by being in his arms. I also wanted him to know that I was going to listen to him, even if I was worried about what exactly he had done.

“Would you still love me if I wasn’t famous? If I didn’t have any money? If I couldn’t support you in the lifestyle that you’ve been accustomed to?” Bash asked.

“What kind of stupid questions are those? I don’t care if you’re famous. I would almost prefer you weren’t. I don’t care how much money you have. I’m more than capable of supporting my lifestyle, thank you very much. I love you. I want to be with you. I don’t care what that means if it makes you happy. Well, within reason.”

“Reason?”

“If you wanted to, say, move to some remote island and become a hermit, I would need to know exactly which island,” I said.

“The Highlands would be out. It would have to be something tropical because you hate the winter.”

I smiled at him and how he knew me so well. “If you really wanted to, I could learn to layer up, and find inventive ways to keep warm.”

“You are a treasure,” Bash said.

“Why don’t you tell me what you really did and then we can decide if we should move to the Highlands or not.”

“When we left to go to Winslow Creek, the play wasn’t going well. It pretty much wasn’t going to happen. I knew that and I should have told you but I didn’t.”

“Why didn’t you?” I had figured out as much and this was one of the main questions I needed answers to.

“I was hoping that we could still salvage something. Isla was going to work on it and I told me to leave her alone while she did. It was why I wanted to go out of town.”

“You didn’t want to tell me anything because you didn’t know what to tell me. I can understand that. I don’t exactly like it, but I can understand it. What was decided? Are you going to be able to do another play?”

“Yes and no. The original play is no longer, at least not with Isla directing. She is, however, in the works of getting another play, a revival, produced. The only catch is I would have to agree to play a supporting role instead of the main character.”

“Are you okay with that?” Bash had always been the lead, in the spotlight. I wasn’t sure how he would take to having to take a step back or work in someone else’s shadow.

“Yes. Totally. It’s how it should have been. I might know what I’m doing on a movie set but I have a lot to learn if I’m going to make a career on Broadway. I need to learn the craft and if I can do that with some amazing actors, I’m going to take those opportunities.”

“Who would you be working with?” I asked.

“Daniel Renfield and Tamara Sun,” he said.

“Wow. Talk about learning from the best.” They were Broadway legends, and ones who hadn’t worked in years. It must be some play to get them to come and work with Bash and Isla.

“Will Isla direct still?”

“Yes. Her parents are friends of theirs and they have wanted to work with her. They were just waiting for the right script to come along.”